Rhythm and Blues
by TV Manic 2
Summary: Johnny promised he’d take her dancing, and a dancing they will go. Is it too late for them to leave the dreaded ‘friend zone’ and become something more? JohnnyxOC A missing scene from my as yet to be updated fic ‘Lost Time’


**Fantastic Four (Movieverse) – Rhythm and Blues **

**Summary: **

Johnny promised he'd take her dancing, and a dancing they will go. Is it too late for them to leave the dreaded 'friend zone' and become something more? JohnnyxOC A missing scene from my as yet to be updated fic 'Lost Time'

**Disclaimer: **

I own absolutely nothing. And I mean nothing.

**Author's Notes:**

I apologise profusely for not updating Lost Time, but although I know what I intend to happen etc, my muse has decided to give me selective writers block. As such, I appear unable to write anymore at this moment in time (and believe me I've tried). I hope this oneshot is enough to make up for it :D

For those who have not read my other fics; fear not. You may read ahead without the prequels, this has no effect on the plot whatsoever, but you may be a little confused as to who Kayla is. She is an OC, she does have ice powers, and she is a friend of Johnny's, however she is **not** a Mary Sue (just thought I'd throw that in for good measure)

Enjoy!

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**Useful Recap:**

_The small medical office was a sterile white and brightly lit. Cabinets and draws lined two walls, filled with everything a surgeon could ever need. An operating table lay in the middle surrounded by currently unused machines and IV poles. _

_Dr. Kayla Maiden sat on her wheelie chair at her desk in the room she had made her haven. She spent the majority of her time in there, though thankfully she wasn't often joined by a critically ill patient. That day though, she had her most common company. Johnny Storm. _

"_You need to get out more," Johnny stated simply. He sat perched on the operating table, watching over Kayla's shoulder. He earned himself an annoyed glance. "Seriously, you spend more time in here than Reed spends in his lab...and that's saying something."_

"_I have work to do," Kayla replied._

"_What work? I haven't been stabbed or shot recently..." Johnny smirked. He still had the scar from when Doom had attacked the Baxter Building all those years ago, as well as bite marks on his arm from the hunting dogs in Latveria. _

_Kayla sighed and put down the papers she was reading. She swivelled in her chair to face him. "I'm working on a research project. Trying to see if I can't regain some of my reputation in the medical community."_

"_You still need to get out more," Johnny decided. "In fact, I'm going to take you out."_

"_You are?" Kayla asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow._

"_Yes, I'm going to take you to a club, you like dancing right?" Kayla glared at him. "Oh, come on. It will be fun. You can relax, have fun...get out of this really white room..."_

_

* * *

_

_Kayla was in the too-white room again. Johnny entered without knocking and sat down on the examination table, waiting for the good doctor to look up and notice him. Eventually she looked up from her notes and turned to glare at him, "Have you never heard of knocking?"_

"_No point, you probably wouldn't have heard it anyway," Johnny easily replied, smirking slightly. Kayla just rolled her eyes and continued staring at her notes. "How can you spend so much time in here?"_

"_Easily."_

"_That's just not human, were you a hermit in another life?" Johnny joked, hoping to provoke Kayla a little. She was more fun when she was riled up and arguing with him._

"_What is it that you want?" Kayla huffed, exasperated at Johnny's persistence. "Do you annoy Reed this much or is this a privilege you reserve entirely for me?"_

_Johnny smiled; the grin lighting up his eyes. "This is just the only way to make you socialise. Have you thought about my offer?"_

_Kayla looked confused for a second and then sighed. "The dancing."_

"_The dancing." Johnny repeated._

"_I can't say I've thought about it, no," Kayla lied. Of course she had thought about it, it was an offer difficult to refuse. It would be nice to get out of the Baxter Building, she was starting to go stir crazy in here...and the whiteness of this very white room was starting to get to her..._

_Johnny just continued smiling knowingly as he watched Kayla decide. She was so easy to read, she might as well have been thinking out loud. He waited for her to sigh as she came to her decision, and then answered for her "That's a yes then."_

_She narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed at how he did that. She nodded reluctantly, making Johnny hop off the table and grab her hand. He pulled her into a standing position and proceeded to hug her. It wasn't a lover's embrace, but it was more than friendly. That was pretty much their relationship. Caught somewhere between just friends and romance. Sometimes it was annoying, but it was never awkward. _

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**Rhythm and Blues**

The music in pounded around the walls of the club, reverberating in Kayla's unaccustomed eardrums. She was far from the silence of the white room now. There was a pack of people on the dance floor, all of them wearing far less than her. She glanced down at her simple yet classy ensemble, feeling completely out of place. Why was she here again?

Johnny grinned at her, reading her like a book. As usual he looked fantastic, his clothes tasteful and tight in all the right places. Several times on the journey over he had assured her that she looked beautiful, but her confidence had diminished the moment they entered the door. He linked his arm with hers and said just loud enough to reach her above the music "You need to calm down."

"I stick out like a sore thumb." Kayla replied, tugging at her top.

"Only because you're here with me," Johnny winked, is cocky smile widening. Kayla glared at him with mock annoyance. "Relax, be cool. Embrace the Zen."

"I don't need the Zen," Kayla insisted as they walked into the throng of the club. The music got louder the further in they went; she was sure she was going to be deaf before the evening was out.

"Be more Zen."

Kayla frowned at Johnny in frustration. "I am Zen! See the Zen? If I was any more Zen I would float!"

Laughing, Johnny led Kayla past the dance floor, to the bar that lined the east wall. Despite the club being busy they managed to find a couple of free stools at the end of the bar. Instantly recognising Johnny as a regular, the barman greeted them and served their drinks. After some persuasion, Kayla agreed to a vodka and orange, warning Johnny that it had been a long time she had had alcohol.

"I can see that," Johnny murmured to himself as Kayla downed her third drink, already showing signs of giddiness. They talked about everything and nothing, and by the sixth round Kayla was slumped across the wooden surface, playing with her empty glass.

"Life sucks, you know that?" she slurred.

"Ah, so you're a miserable drunk," Johnny concluded. He couldn't remember the last time he had been drunk; probably not long before the space expedition. Ever since his body just burned through it before it had any effect.

Kayla blinked at him "I'm not drunk, I am just a wee bit tipsy...wait" she peered at him accusingly "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

Johnny avoided the question "Why does life suck, dare I ask?"

"Cause bad stuff happens to good people, like, all the time. Take you and your family for instance. Your dad, great doctor, saving lives etc, then Life come along and take that all away." She emphasised each point with a jab of her empty glass. "You and Sue, superheroes, again with the life saving, and then Life come along again and again, kicking you down. It just aint fair you know," she met his eyes "You know?"

"Yeah I know," Johnny said so quietly, his voice was stolen by the music. He steered the conversation around. "What about you? You were a major surgeon when Life came along."

"Oh no, Life came along way before that." Kayla dropped her glass to the bar and stared at the dregs of orange at the bottom. Johnny saw sadness in her eyes that he had never witnessed before. Her whole demeanour had changed to that of a person who had suffered a great defeat.

"What happened?" Johnny prompted. He placed a comforting hand on her arm and leaned in so that she didn't have to talk as loud.

"The usual, you know. Parents got divorced because my dad had an affair. Then mum remarried," Kayla shuddered at some memory, and then continued, obviously leaving out some of the nastier details. "Ol' Martin weren't a nice man. He could do things that even a serial killer would hesitate over. He didn't care that me and my brother were just kids; made no difference to him." She sighed heavily and toasted her magically refilled glass towards the floor. "He's dead now, though. Won't trouble no one but the devil. Is it wrong to feel sorry for the devil?"

They passed a while in silence. Johnny felt slightly ashamed that it had taken a drunken confession for him to learn something about the doctor. It was only now that he realised how little he knew. But this was a conversation for a more sober Kayla. Suddenly the heavy drum and bass music became dramatically slower. A lot of dancers left the floor and were replaced by couples. Without warning he grabbed Kayla's hand and led her to the edge of the floor. He knew she would never forgive him if he led her right in to the middle.

"What are you..." Kayla yelped. Johnny placed her in a dance hold, his hand snaking to hip. She gazed up at him in surprise. By the time she found her voice they had been moving for half the song. "Dancing?"

"I believe that it was they call this," Johnny replied, his grin bright enough to blind any who were not prepared. They fell in step with each other, gradually growing closer. "You're pretty good. And here I thought I'd have to teach you."

"Teach me?" Kayla scoffed. "You're looking at the First Place Winner of the Under 10's Regional Ballroom Competition." She promptly stepped on his toe. "I'm a little out of practice."

"Well, we'll just have to go dancing more often to get you back in the swing of it," Johnny hinted. He couldn't tell if Kayla had caught it, but if she had she didn't refuse. He pulled her slightly closer, her head resting on his chest. The moment felt so perfect for Johnny, even though she was slightly inebriated. They were there, together, locked in an embrace that was entirely romantic – no 'just friends' uncertainty. He would have quite happily have stayed there, holding her, forever.

Then Life came along.

The first tool of Life's plan came barging through the front door, gun raised and aimed at the ceiling. He was young, his hair long and his clothes shabby. He had made no attempt to hide his identity. His fellow abettors, however, had strived for anonymity, all seven of them wearing unoriginal balaclavas. The only gun was in the hand of the unmasked youth who fired a few warning shots at the ceiling to announce their arrival.

The music came to a sudden halt as screams replaced it. Some people tried to make a run for it, only to find their exits blocked, while others just stood in fear, gazing as if fascinated at the weapon. At the edge of floor, Kayla and Johnny stood side by side. She was still holding him, much to his delight. They watched, calculating how best to neutralise the situation while the lead youth established control.

Now the club was filled with uncharacteristic silence. For a dumb moment, Kayla thought the music had finally fulfilled its mission to deafen her; however the sounds of the raiders were all too clear. The lead youth scanned the quieted crowd, obviously pleased at the current success of his venture. When his eyes settled on Johnny, they were filled only with contempt. Maybe the presence of the superhero put a hitch in his plans, or maybe the guy just didn't appreciate the Fantastic Four's community service, they couldn't tell. He marched up to the Human Torch without fear, pointing the gun at him. Though his height in no way matched Johnny's, he tried to tower over the superhero and threatened "You ain't gonna get involved either, _Torch_. No heroics, no nothing. You're just gonna stand there quietly. You make the slightest move and I'm gonna put one of these bullets in your pretty little head."

Johnny resisted the urge to retort. Instead he waited for the youth to get out of ear shot and muttered to Kayla "Who is this hack?"

"I don't know," Kayla replied just as subtly. "But he's a hack with a gun that doesn't seem to like heroes too much." They watched as the lead youth ordered the bar tender to empty the till and hand over the tip jar. "Looks like they just wanna rob the place. Might be best to just let them, and report them later." She glanced around. "Less collateral damage. And I'm not sure this place is up to fire code."

Johnny agreed with a small nod of his head, although it took all his effort to restrain himself. He could already feel his hand heat up in anticipation for a fireball. Who was this idiot to think that he could just waltz into a club and rob the place? There were so many witnesses, and he had made no effort to be discreet. Did he want to get caught, or did he honestly think he would get enough money to simply disappear?

The lead youth seemed content with the cash the bartender had handed over. He took back his sack, and Johnny was surprised to see that it didn't have 'LOOT' written on the side. He addressed the crowd "Alright then. We'll be leaving now, you folks have a nice evening," he leered at one of the scantily dressed woman near the exit "I know I will."

As the lead youth swaggered towards the door, his gang of masked bandits withdrew from their positions and followed. They kept a wary eye on the club goers, unlike the lead youth who only had eyes for one. The woman he had leered at shied away from him as he approached, but not far enough. With the same hand that he held the gun he grabbed her wrist, and with the other he reached for her exposed cleavage.

Johnny reached the last of his patience. His hand ignited effortlessly, and then so did the youth's as the flames made contact. Despite the pain he must have been in, vengeance fuelled him. Hand still aflame he released the girl, swung the gun around and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the bullet leaving the barrel reverberated loudly around the club.

So did the sound of the body hitting the floor.

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**That is the cliff hanger I would have left 'Lost Time' on if I ever got round to finishing it lol **

**I have come to the conclusion that I can't write a fic without mortally wounding a character in some way, proven by the fact that this was meant to be a romantic scene, but is now not :P**

**Please review! **


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